Premiere: Star Parks release enigmatic video for the brilliant, haunting single ‘Palm Sunday’, and announce new album ‘The New Sounds of Late Capitalism’
We are very pleased to premiere the video for Texas indie band Star Parks‘s new track ‘Palm Sunday’, as well as announce news of their new album, the delightfully titled ‘The New Sounds of Late Capitalism’ due for release on 7 May 2021 through Nine Mile Records. ‘Palm Sunday’ has a bucolic, pastoral feel that …
Track: Dead Can Dance members Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell unveil another sparkling single ‘Deshta (Forever)’ from their forthcoming album ‘Burn’
The unique and exotic sounds of Dead Can Dance, fusing medieval music with gothic undertones and ambient textures are detectable in the shimmering new track ‘Deshta (Forever)’ from Dead Can Dance members Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell. This follows the release earlier this year of the single ‘Noyalain (Burn)’ reviewed here. With Indian and Middle …
Track: The Velvet Hands tear off the roof with their thundering single ‘Star’ and announce headlining gigs for November
There’s nothing like a piece of earth-quaking straight forward no frills rock’n’roll, and The Velvet Hands have nailed it with style in their new single ‘Star’. Lashings of grunty guitars, woop-woops, soaring backing vocals and a stabbing horn section are the perfect ingredients for some down to earth indie rock. Just add leather jackets, a …
Premiere: Climbing Trees exclusively reveal their dynamic and shimmering new single Troubling Times.
Welsh indie giants Climbing Trees will be releasing their much anticipated new single ‘Troubling Times’ on 30 April 2021, and we here at Backseat Mafia are very excited to bring to you an exclusive first listen of the single. And it is an absolute delight. The band says: We’re chuffed to share ‘Troubling Times’ with …
Track: Sydney’s Abby Bella May unveils the bright and bubbly new track ‘Bindii Patch’
There’s something evocatively Australian about suffering minor multiple injuries from a Bindii patch – a prickly monstrosity that lurks in the depths of the most unprepossessing yet beckoning green lawns during the summer months. Sydney artist Abby Bella May has charmingly built this phenomena into her delightful new indie pop single ‘Bindii Patch’. This is …
Track: Wildheart release the visceral excoriating and ultimately cathartic single ‘Backburner’
While hardcore is a genre I usually don’t write about, a track like ‘Backburner’ from Brisbane band Wildheart shines with such a passion. Termed ‘melodic hardcore’ to be precise, which is a much more accessible genre, I presume, than non-melodic hardcore – what makes ‘Backburner’ so special is the deep heartfelt messages and the pure …
Track: Canada’s Joseph of Mercury releases a grief-stricken paean to lost friends in the shimmering track ‘Pretty Blonde Boy’
Gliding over a bubbling, sparkling instrumentation, Joseph of Mercury has a gorgeous vocal style that recalls bands like The Smiths or Gene – a veritable crooner with indelible style. His new single ‘Pretty Blonde Boy’ was born out of grief for the loss of two friends: Two of my oldest, closest & dearest friends, both …
Track: New Zealand’s Emily C. Browning releases the slinky electro pop delight ‘I Wasn’t Into You Anyway’.
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, Emily C. Browning, with a background in Jazz and a career playing guitars for others, has just released her first solo work – the lovely single ‘I Wasn’t Into You Anyway’. There is a smart self-deprecatory sense of humour evident in both the song and the accompanying video – Browning …
Track: Sydney electro-pop duo Micra release luscious double singles ‘Undercover Lover’ and ‘I Should’ve Listened’
Ivana Kafedjiyska and Robbie Cain together are the Sydney-based duo Micra and they have just released a luscious pair of tracks that are awash with dream pop motifs and a languid air. Centred around Kafedjiyska’s ethereal vocals and a soft and billowing synth bed, ‘Undercover Lover’ has a classic pop melody and a wistful pace. …
Album Review: Brisbane’s dreamy pop exponent Cloud Tangle returns with the gloriously ambient ‘Swells’
Last year’s debut album ‘Kinds of Sadness’ by Brisbane solo artist Cloud Tangle was a sign of something special brewing in the home studios of Amber Ramsay – it was one of our favourite Australian/New Zealand releases for 2020 and indicative of a prodigious talent. Cloud Tangle is back with the album ‘Swells’ – another …